Congratulations, City Colleges of Chicago Graduates!

Graduation season is here! This weekend graduating City College students are walking across the stage and are off to bigger things — some continuing their education at four-year universities, others joining the workforce. Their futures are bright and the possibilities are endless. We’re excited to join them in celebrating their great accomplishments.

Here are just a few success stories from our city’s amazing students.

Olajumoke “Jummie” Arogundade, 2016 Valedictorian, Olive-Harvey College

Olajumoke “Jummie” Arogundade was a full-time homemaker when she moved to America with her husband. When her daughter started preschool, she began getting restless — she had too much time on her hands.

Despite having a microbiology degree from a university in her homeland of Nigeria, she knew getting a degree from an American institution was the only way to compete in the U.S. workforce.

Olive-Harvey College was the perfect place for Jummie to start her education while balancing her other responsibilities as a mother and a wife. Quickly completing her GED and moving on to credit classes, she found classes that provided a good stepping stone to her next goal. Adding an outside job to her schedule was a bit more stress, but she handled it.

“You always have to work hard. Nothing is going to be easy, so sometimes you have to do things that are hard.” — Olajumoke “Jummie” Arogundade

Olajumoke is graduating from Olive-Harvey’s child development program and will start at either Governors State University or National Lewis University to get her bachelor degree in social work in Spring 2017.

Lizet Martinez, 2016 Valedictorian, Richard J. Daley College

Lizet Martinez’s parents always taught her to work hard in school. Living without college degrees themselves, they knew a good education was the best way to a better life.

Despite always being a good student, Lizet lacked direction after high school. She was unsure of what career path she wanted to take. What she did know is that taking her general education courses at a four-year university would cost a lot of money while she figured out her major. To save money and explore her interests, she chose Richard J. Daley College.

At Daley College, Lizet used the Career and Transfer Centers to help find a direction for her next step. It was through working with advisors that she found a career focus in interdisciplinary health. City Colleges of Chicago gave Lizet what she truly needed from her education.

“Daley helped me find the career path I was passionate about while not costing too much money.” — Lizet Martinez

Upon completing at Daley, Lizet will be working as a research assistant at Northwestern University before starting her bachelor’s degree program at either UIC or UIUC.

Sean Devaney, 2016 Valedictorian, Harry S. Truman College

Sean describes his employment history as “a lot of random, low-paying jobs.”

As a poor student in high school, Sean dropped out and entered the workforce before getting his GED a few years later. Cycling through several jobs, mostly doing manual labor, he eventually realized he wanted a job that offered a career, with advancement opportunities, and for that he needed a college education.

Sean followed his passion for cars and fixing things, starting in the automotive technology program at Truman College. While auto tech classes were right in his wheel house, he dreaded taking the general education courses, like English, that had plagued him in high school.

He went in to the classes hoping to simply pass. What he found is that the study habits he gained in his automotive program transferred seamlessly to his other classes. He had to work as hard as he could, but he is now very proud of the results.

With his associate degree in hand, Sean plans to continue taking business classes through City Colleges of Chicago so he can progress up a management chain.

Yesenia Mendoza Ocampo, 2016 Salutatorian, Richard J. Daley

Yesenia Mendoza Ocampo faced struggles in her junior and senior years of high school, nearly causing her to drop out.

After graduating, she decided to take some time away from school. She got married and started a family.

The birth of her daughter made her realize that she needed to be the role model for her family, and demonstrating the importance of education was a part of that.

With the encouragement of her husband, Yesenia started taking classes at the City Colleges of Chicago. After receiving a D on her first math test, she doubted her decision, but her husband refused to let her give up. She realized she needed better study habits and began taking advantage of tutoring and writing lab services at Daley.

With the changes, she earned straight A’s in her first semester. Her grades gave her the confidence that she could succeed.

After receiving her Associate of General Studies this spring, Yesenia will finish her Associate of Applied Science degree in nursing from Malcolm X College, with plans to pass the NCLEX-RN exam and obtain a Registered Nurse license before transferring to the University of Illinois at Chicago RN-BSN program; and ultimately, becoming a registered nurse specializing in orthopedic medicine.

Nonso Achebe, 2016 Salutatorian, Olive-Harvey College

Graduating from Chicago’s Kenwood Academy on the South Side of Chicago, Nonso Achebe was unsure what his next step would be after high school.

Nonso’s mother went to Olive-Harvey College and thought the school’s small classes would allow him to concentrate on academics and help transition him into the college environment — she was right.

Olive-Harvey made it easy for Nonso to ask questions of his instructors and seek tutoring services.

As he gets closer to graduating, Nonso has been evaluating what comes next with the help of his college advisor. Interested in both nutrition and the environment, he is looking for work and internship opportunities that will help him combine his interests and settle on a major at a four-year college.

Read more great student stories on City Colleges of Chicago’s Tumblr.